no desert gold, brenda, klaus, clean restrooms, agnews

September 26, 2008

Day Five

"The London Bridge is in Arizona? When the fuck did this happen? Does London know about this? The queen has got to be pissed."

- Tara Sivek -

"If my thermometer had been an inch longer, I would have burned to death."

- unknown -

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I’ve heard that some people love mornings. I understand the concept on a cognitive level, but to me morning people seem like some unnatural animal… a bird with three wings, a firefly that spontaneously combusts, or a bee that only has the ability to sting itself. How do they go through life? Can life really be worth living if you wake up early?

With that knowledge, perhaps you can understand the willpower it took for me to wake up at 4:45. The sun hadn’t even come up yet and it was still dark even by the time I left at 5:15! I attached the red flasher to the back of my bike and pedaled away into the blackness, my brain filled with cotton.

At a convenience store on the edge of town I collected some powdered donuts and energy bars. As I was about to pay I noticed a novelty item and bought it, too... a children's light necklace. It's the kind where you bend it, some chemicals mix inside, then it glows for a few hours. I needed less than one hour.

Once outside, I sat down and ate my breakfast. Shortly after that I put on my new piece of jewelry and rolled out of town.

By 7:00 I felt a lot better. Not just more awake, but.... saturated, something I hadn't felt since I arrived in the Mojave Desert.

I crossed the river east of Blythe and entered Arizona. I always try to take a picture of my bike next to the state signs as I cross them but there wasn't one.

This picture was taken as I crossed the Colorado river bridge into Arizona.

There was a climb which began at the river dividing the two states, then a short descent into Quartzsite where I refilled my water bottles.

By 6:15 I had pedaled ten miles, one fourth of my goal for the day.

Leaving Quartzsite, I began climbing again and would continue to do so until about six miles before Brenda.

My directions briefly dumped me onto Interstate 10, but the shoulder was quite wide and it was actually kind of nice when the 18-wheelers blew past me because the wind they created pushed me that much farther up the mountain.

the scenery is stark, but very beautiful... when it's not trying to kill you

By 8:00 I had done twenty miles, and was still feeling pretty good. I suspect the reason I was feeling so much better was that the sun's heat wasn't pounding me like a fist. The cooler (though still warm) temperature really made a difference.

Occasionally, I even felt a cool breeze sliding down the mountain, but it only lasted a second or two.

My cellphone rang at 9:58, just as I was rolling into Brenda, my destination for the day. Now I just needed to get to the Black Rock Motel and settle in.

When I found a place out of the sun I stopped and listened to my voicemail message:

"This is Jane at the Black Rock Motel. We received your message about a motel room. Our motel is not open at this time of year because our air conditioner is not sufficient for this heat, so we're sorry, our motel is not open. Good-bye."

"Our air conditioner is not sufficient for this heat." ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?!?!?!?!

Brenda has a population of zero, and the only "inhabitants" are the snowbirds who come to the two RV parks. It has a grocery store and a restaurant. The restaurant, like the motel, is only open October through May, so I could only buy snack items.

Inside the restaurant I sat down at a table and thought about what to do as I drank a very cold soft drink. Nothing came to mind, so I started drinking another one.

While I was sitting there unsuccessfully willing myself to stop sweating, the cashier struck up a conversation. Her question about how far I planned to make it tonight prompted an answer of "I don't have any idea," and an explanation of why.

After giving it some thought, she suggested I try calling Desert Gold, the RV Park.

“They have a room they rent, a camper that just stays there all the time.”

She looked up the number for me, and when I called the Desert Gold I learned they charge $53.99 per night, with a two-night minimum… $120.00. It was a bit steep, so the lady at the Desert Gold suggested I try calling the other RV Park, Brenda's RV Park. I called, and learned they charge $53.99 per night as well, also with a two-night minimum… $120.00.

Then the lady at Brenda's RV Park also told me I should try calling Desert Gold. "Perhaps they have a cheaper room," she said. I felt like I was walking into an M. C. Escher painting

While I was sitting there trying to decide what to do, another bicyclist strolled in. He got something to drink and asked if he could join me.

His name is Klaus Kuras, a 42-year-old IT Program Manager. His trip began at his home in Frankfurt, Germany. He traveled East across Europe, Russia, Mongolia, and China. He was in Beijing during the Olympics, then flew to Los Angeles and biked to San Diego.

And now, 7500 miles later, our paths crossed... right here in Brenda, Arizona.

His goal is to ride around the world (and you thought I was crazy). Once he reaches Florida he'll fly to France, then ride home during the winter.

Unsurprisingly, this man who pedaled across the Gobi desert, literally passing dead camels who weren't able to survive the heat, decided that he was going to start waking up very early and riding until noon because the temperature is so hot.

We talked for half an hour or so while he had a couple of drinks and cooled down as well. Eventually, it was time for him to go - he's trying to do at least 100 kilometers (about 68 miles) a day so he can get to Florida before his visa runs out.

I was kind of stuck, unsure about what to do, when he suggested we ride to Salome together. Seeing how limited my options were becoming in Brenda I thought what the hell... and said sure.

Stepping outside into the heat was like having someone try to get the wrinkles out of my face with an iron, but I ignored it and climbed on my bike to continue riding.

The ride to Salome was uphill, but not steep. We stopped frequently, and I drank more than my body weight in Gatorade. I also poured water onto my head, neck and back.

I can't remember... Did I mention it was hot?

We stopped in Kofa (population unknown, since it's not even on my map, which includes towns with no people) for lunch, a cheeseburger and multiple refills of Dr. Pepper.

It was here that Klaus found out about free refills on soft drinks in America. He was pretty excited about it and I'm sure he's going to take full advantage of it during his stay in the States.

An interesting perspective about drinking... Last night Klaus ate at the Sizzler restaurant and ordered a meal which comes with a “free drink.” Understandably, he wasn't very happy when he was told that beer isn't one of the options. It DOES say a free drink, and beer IS a drink... It's one of those cultural misunderstandings.

From our waitress/cashier/owner I learned where the name of the "town" comes from... it's an abbreviation of King of Arizona. I wish I knew more about where that came from. Arizona had a king?

I spent a little longer at the cafe than I wanted because the sign in the front said "Clean Restrooms." Fortunately, they weren't very dirty so it didn't take me too long.

We left at 1:00 with ten miles left to go. We had more climbing, but it was still gradual.

We went through Hope and made the same corny jokes everyone else makes when passing through:

"Hope is small."

"Not much Hope here."

"Where there's Hope, there's life." (a play on words from the quote "Where there's life, there's hope" that we're not going to die now that we're in Hope)

After picking up some sand off the ground: "I'm feeling Hope."

On the way out of town we saw this sign, misspelled but still funny.

It was somewhat easier riding with Klaus. In addition to the conversation making the miles slip by faster, I drafted almost all of the way. Drafting is a technique in which one person rides behind another person, staying in the slipstream and avoiding some of the wind resistance.

Even drafting, I began fading during the last five miles and was really glad to see the Salome city limits sign (pop. 1,690).

In Salome, we went straight to the motel and rang the bell in the lobby. No one answered so I rang it a few more times. Fifteen minutes later the owner of the hotel, Marjorie, finally showed up - she was picking her daughter up from soccer practice.

As we were registering she also told us what activities there were in town this evening. Since it was Friday night, there was only one…. watching the high school football game.

I pictured griddle marks burned onto my butt exactly matching the lines of the bleachers as I sat in the heat for an additional three hours. I imagined how much skin I would leave behind when I stood up after watching a high school team whose mascot is a frog. I fantasized about leaning over an air conditioner set to Hi Cool.

...and decided that if I was going to burn myself it would be on my own terms (on my bike), then thanked her for the information.

We got a room with two beds and I immediately turned on the air conditioner to high. After showering, we walked across the street to the only restaurant in town, a Mexican food place. There, we met a couple of other cyclists.

Their names are Hewes and Susan Agnew. Hewes, a retired cardiothoracic surgeon in his late seventies, and his wife Susan, have toured on their tandem all over the world. They started touring shortly after Hewes finished some of his medical training in England when he was in his thirties. Their friend, Paul Grmoljez (not misspelled), a general surgeon and an experienced cyclist, wasn’t with them. Apparently, he got dehydrated to the point where they called an ambulance. He wasn’t transported to the local hospital, but didn’t feel well enough to come to dinner and stayed in his room so we didn't meet him.

The four of us enjoyed eating together, sharing stories of the road and previous tours, after which we went back to our rooms. I wrote down my mileage as soon as I got to the motel because my odometer has been acting weird. It's a good thing I did, because when I returned to my room after dinner it said 139 miles. By the time I went to bed it said almost 200.

Jeez, no wonder I'm so tired.

I set my alarm for 4:40 and went to bed at 9:00.

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distance: 63.7 miles

average speed: 10.6 mph
time on bike: 5:59:03
cumulative miles: 235 miles

Today's ride: 64 miles (103 km)
Total: 235 miles (378 km)

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